Chapter 10: Cooperation

It might have been morning. Blood Owl was in a room somewhere in Reflection City, where it was very hard to tell how much time had passed.

The place was beginning to look livable. The light channel overhead still provided the lighting, but furniture and everyday necessities now set this room apart from the other square boxes. Of course, the overall layout was still very strange. The room was enormous, and spacing the furniture too far apart would have been inconvenient, so Blood Owl's living area occupied only about a third of it.

He was sitting on a sofa, facing a flat-screen television mounted on the wall. A tangle of cables ran from the back of the television to the back of a flat, black rectangular box on the floor. This thing was the legendary VCR.

Blood Owl put a videotape into the machine, then returned to his old sofa and sat down. He pressed the play button on the remote.

This was the fifth day since his fight with Paper Hero. Zuo Dao had begun making deliveries in batches the day before yesterday. He really had done a fine job as a middleman. The various pieces of equipment, chemicals, legitimate cash, and even the furniture of unknown provenance were all thoroughly satisfactory.

Once everything had changed hands, they would go their separate ways and become strangers. Ideally, barring another job together, they would have nothing to do with each other for the rest of their lives. That would make this a perfect collaboration.

Unexpectedly, though, Zuo Dao had also given Blood Owl a videotape.

Blood Owl had asked Zuo Dao a few questions, too, but all he had learned were two names that sounded nothing like real ones, “Accountant” and “Tian Yi.”

Zuo Dao had expected the other man to question his story, or simply torture him, but Blood Owl had done neither. He seemed able to tell when people were speaking the truth.

The tape began to play. At first there was nothing but static. A few seconds later, a strange beeping sounded, rather like an electronic alarm clock. After roughly another ten seconds, an image of a room full of bookshelves and untidy piles of books appeared on the screen. The camera seemed to have been set on a desk, but the chair in front of it was empty.

Then came the sound of a toilet flushing off camera. A man in a black shirt and suit, his collar loose, walked into view. He glanced at the camera and said, “Oh, hello, Mr. Blood Owl.”

Blood Owl watched the television with a blank expression. As soon as Tian Yi spoke on the screen, Blood Owl pressed the stop button on the remote and muttered, “Idiot.”

The tape did not stop. On the television, Tian Yi walked slowly over to the upholstered chair behind the desk and sat down. He cleared his throat. “First of all, this isn't a prank video designed to trick you into talking to your television, so ‘idiot’ is clearly the wrong conclusion. Even if I did make a film of that sort, it would most certainly be a masterpiece.”

Blood Owl thought he must not have aimed the remote properly, so he pressed the button a few more times. The video kept playing.

“Zuo Dao got you the VCR. A few days ago, he tried to sneak a look at the tape and scared himself half to death. He seemed to think I was going to crawl out of the screen, so he unplugged it.” Tian Yi picked up his coffee. “Mr. Blood Owl, you can stop pressing buttons on the VCR remote now. This isn't an ordinary videotape. It's a communications medium. Whenever someone plays it, the computer on my desk sounds an alert and automatically connects to the television at your end. So you're actually on a video call right now.” He looked displeased. “Your timing was a little off my estimate, Mr. Blood Owl. I haven't slept properly these past few days, for fear of missing the call because of the time difference.”

“I've never heard of using a twentieth-century videotape and a television to make a video call to someone else's computer.” Despite his objection, Blood Owl had finally spoken to the screen.

“Ah, quite true. But you should know that the person who made this tape is arguably the finest craftsman of our age. Had he been born a hundred years earlier, he would certainly have led the design of Tiandu,” Tian Yi replied.

Blood Owl sneered. “You mean yourself?”

“Me? No, no. I have no idea how this thing works. I just placed the order. And what I said just now wasn't meant as praise in the slightest. The finest craftsman of our age is a complete idiot. If you ever get a chance to meet him, don't forget to stab him a few times for me, and while you're at it, chop him up and feed him to the pigs.”

Blood Owl said, “Well, I know more than enough about the tape now. Can you get to the point? What do you want with me, Mr. Tian Yi?”

Tian Yi answered just as frankly. “I want to work with you.”

Blood Owl gave a cold snort. “Why does that sound to me like ‘I want you to work for me’ or ‘I want to use you’?”

Tian Yi smiled. “Cooperation, Mr. Blood Owl, means using each other until the other party has no value left, then parting ways. Afterward, if you find your former partner particularly irritating, you can always kill them while you're at it.”

“Oh, you do have some insight into these things. But since you're the one who approached me first…”

Before Blood Owl had finished, Tian Yi already knew what he wanted. He answered at once, “No problem. I can tell you.” He gulped down half a cup of coffee and began. “It goes back to the night of St. Mark's Massacre ten years ago. You may not know this, but about a month before that, a gang of professional thieves hired me to plan a burglary at St. Mark's Basilica. They were good at what they did, and no fools either. Some even had military backgrounds. I thought the job was worth taking, so I accepted.

“I drew up the plan in half a day, but gathering intelligence, reconnaissance, preparations, training, and rehearsals took up most of the time. So, unfortunately for them, on the night they made their move, they happened to run into you.

“I soon lost contact with them. When I got there, I found a very interesting crime scene. No plan, no hesitation, no mercy, no… survivors.

“That was when I became interested in you.”

Blood Owl grabbed the snacks beside him. “Oh, now that you mention it, there was a strange bunch in the basilica that night. Didn't look like security guards.”

Tian Yi continued, “I believe there are two paths to the perfect crime. The first is meticulous planning, precise execution, and properly tidying up afterward. The second is to just do it.

“I've made my living for years selling crime plans, so you could say I know the first path well. But you, Mr. Blood Owl, left what appeared to be the scene of an impulsive crime. Walk into the church, pack up the artwork, carry it out, kill everyone who tries to stop you until there's no one left to kill, then leave quickly. However many times I replay that scene in my mind, however many traces and flaws it appears to leave behind, it is actually perfect.

“Countless detective novelists build their stories around unraveling intricate schemes, but they can never touch that second path, the simplest, most direct crimes. A hit-and-run, an armed robbery at night, pickpocketing on a bus. If those criminals can evade capture for a while and never offend again, they often escape the law altogether. Even the cleverest investigator has nowhere to begin.”

Blood Owl said, “Is this your roundabout way of showing off that you managed to contact me?”

Tian Yi pursed his lips. “No. There's nothing to show off about. I couldn't track you down for ten years. A real failure. It wasn't until you killed someone at the Copper Parrot that I got a lead. Now let me tell you how I found you, which is the part you most want to hear.” He drained his coffee and pointed to the bookshelves behind him. “Here in my bookshop, there's something called a Book of the Heart. Each one represents a person. I can read the inner thoughts of all ordinary people below Paper rank. That's my source of information.”

Blood Owl looked scornful, apparently not believing a word of it. “You're saying you have over ten billion books in your shop?”

Tian Yi replied, “Mr. Blood Owl, why let space and quantity limit your thinking like all those ordinary people? Just now, you thought what you'd put in the VCR was a twentieth-century video storage medium. Yet here you are talking to me.” He glanced back at the books on the shelves. “From the outside, these books look no different from one another. All of them have black covers.” He took one down at random. “So when I open the book I've taken down, the name inside could be Zhang San, or it could be Li Si. And as you shifted your attention to my hand, did you happen to notice that the spot I just took this book from is now full, with no gap?”

Blood Owl seemed to understand. “Is this your ability?”

Tian Yi said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa… my friend, that question crosses a line.”

“Hmph… whatever. I'm not that interested.”

“The rest should be fairly easy to explain.” Tian Yi filled his cup again. “Naturally, not everyone in HL can be an ability user or a cyborg. It's also very difficult for an ordinary person without special abilities to train their body beyond Paper rank.

“But your file is unusual. Over the past ten years, it has passed through very few ordinary people's hands. Even when it did, they weren't cleared to read it. So I only learned your HL codename recently. I can't monitor everyone in that vast sea of people. Of course, now that I've confirmed your appearance and identity, I can connect certain pieces of information and learn about things you may have done in the past.

“Before that, I'm ashamed to say, I knew nothing about you apart from what you did in St. Mark's Square. Fortunately, that policeman called Paper Hero connected you to the recent murders. Some clerical staff at HL Northern Second Branch in the Crown Commandery handled your case, which gave me a target and some leads. Then I began investigating the inner thoughts of certain people in Venice. It really didn't take very long to weave those tangled leads together like a braid and piece together what was happening in the city.”

Blood Owl asked, “So you knew everyone's movements. Steel Commandment, Zuo Dao, HL, and that Paper Hero.”

Tian Yi said, “Ah… it really wasn't too much trouble. Anyone living in this world has to come into contact with other people. Countless passersby on the streets, ordinary members of Steel Commandment, policemen at the station. Every one of them can provide me with information. They can all become my eyes and ears, and they will never lie. With an information network like that, combined with some simple deductions, it's easy enough to work out how things are progressing.

“Judging by your movements over the past few years, I gather you make a habit of using artworks as currency. It's the cleverest method. Checks have to be cashed at a bank, and you can't carry large amounts of cash between regions. Those paintings, though, can easily pass through airport security and be converted into money without a bank. One transaction gives you enough to spend as freely as you like for a while. That's why you robbed a museum ten years ago.”

Blood Owl picked up the thread. “So you learned from all that information that finding Zuo Dao, the middleman, would let you contact me.”

“Exactly. Disclosing all that information is my show of good faith in proposing we work together.”

“Heh heh heh…” Murderous intent seeped through Blood Owl's smile. “Why do I get the feeling there's a fair amount of intimidation in the way you say such terrifying things so casually?”

Tian Yi smiled back. “Oh? That's a novel way of putting it. Most people, after hearing all that, would never use the word terrifying to describe my ability to get things done. Mr. Blood Owl, your understanding far exceeds my expectations.”

Blood Owl abruptly changed tack, a savage grin on his face. “What exactly are you trying to do?”

Only Tian Yi knew how to answer this seemingly inexplicable question. “It isn't time yet to say what I intend to do. But you, Mr. Blood Owl, are a very important part of it.”

“How important?”

“I've selected a number of collaborators. Some have already reached agreements with me; some haven't. A few have abilities to rival those of Mr. Paper Hero. Others have special talents, like Zuo Dao. Of course, some are simply deranged lunatics. And you, Blood Owl…” Tian Yi looked as though he were savoring an unpleasant little dish. “You're more important than any of them, because you're the most utterly deranged lunatic I've ever met. Unprecedented, you might say, and unlikely ever to be surpassed.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Blood Owl threw back his head and laughed. After a while, he stood up and walked toward the television.

“You're going to smash the television, aren't you?” Tian Yi asked.

Blood Owl had already clenched his fist, ready to strike.

Tian Yi gave a helpless shrug. “All right, all right. Let's say negotiations have broken down… Oh, as a gesture of goodwill, I'll give you one piece of information free of charge. Just one sentence…”

Blood Owl punched the television screen. Tian Yi's final five words from the screen were, “You're already in the game…”